This effect allows you to turn proportional spacing for numbers on
or off. Switching off proportional spacing means that Table mode is
switched on, and vice versa; this is useful for numbers in tables
where different columns have to line up with each other. With Table
mode all numeric characters will occupy exactly the same width as the
widest numeral in the font. If proportional spacing was switched off
in the Automatic kerning function described above, then this function
of course has no effect: All characters will then be printed with the
width of a capital M
.
Table mode is easier to understand with an example of a short table. This example shows clearly that when this effect is switched on the numerals all line up below each other, without the aid of tab stops:
